Nebraska Stories (video) | NET Television

Loren Eiseley's Reflections of the Depression

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:30:00 CST

In the 1930s the world turned dark with depression. Men without jobs became drifters. Loren Eiseley was just 19 years old when he became a vagabond hopping freight trains across America. Surprisingly, he found a special kind of "freedom" in this wandering lifestyle.

The Greening of the Dust Bowl

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:15:00 CST

Beginning with highlights from the legendary Depression documentary "The Plow That Broke the Plains," we revisit the effects of the Dust Bowl on Nebraska. We then discover how the University of Nebraska College of Agriculture helped salvage the devastated land in the late 1930s. Today, we see how the University is leading the world in groundwater research including new ways of "seeing" drought endangered areas through satellite infrared imagery.

The Liberators

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:45:00 CST

1500 Nebraska veterans were recently flown to Washington, D.C. aboard seven "Heartland Honor Flight" to visit the World War II monument. Hundreds of these veterans gathered in Omaha at a dinner to celebrate and share memories. Before the day is over -- a surprise reunion and rarely seen photographs of a haunting moment in time.

A Day in Fontenelle Forest

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:00:00 CST

It is one of the largest private nature centers in the country and one of Nebraska's five National Natural Landmarks and it is located just minutes from downtown Omaha in Bellevue, Nebraska. With miles of trails, boardwalks and more than 1000 plant and wildlife species nestled in a 1400 acre conservation area, the tree-filled canopies of Fontenelle Forest are an escape from urban life.

I Am an American

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:15:00 CST

Since this country's earliest days, immigrants have come to America in search of a new and better life. Through the Homestead Act of 1862, immigrants came from across the world to live the American dream of owning their own land. And so it seems fitting that the Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska would host a citizenship ceremony for immigrants who now call Nebraska home. We take a look at what it means to become an American today.

A One-Room School

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:15:00 CST

In 1997, NET Television made a film about a year in the life of Burr Oak School in Custer County, Nebraska. While this one-room school has long since been abandoned, it is not forgotten. We look back at a year in the life of the school and meet some of those kids today, all grown up.

The First Walk On

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:30:00 CST

Langston Coleman was a tough, African-American kid from the slums of Washington D.C. In 1963, Coleman hitchhiked from Washington DC to enroll at the University of Nebraska where he "walked-on" at football practice in hopes of making the Husker football team and getting a scholarship. He went on to become one of the most legendary recruits for the Cornhuskers.

Blizzard Voices of 1888

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:15:00 CDT

Nebraska poet and essayist, Ted Kooser, the 13th U.S. Poet Laureate, reads from his collection of poems recording the devastation unleashed on the Great Plains by the Jan. 12, 1888 blizzard. The Blizzard Voices is based on actual reminiscences of the survivors as recorded in documents from the time and written reminiscences from years later. Here are the haunting voices of the men and women who were teaching school, working the land, and tending the house when the storm arrived and changed their lives forever.

Two Convicts in a Haystack

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:30:00 CDT

A story told by Ted Kooser (Garland, NE), and John Lavicky and Herb Hrnicek (Dwight, NE). In one of the many snow storms that struck the Great Plains in 1949, two convicts of the penitentiary in Lincoln escaped and walked to Dwight in prison flip-flops. They were taken in by the community, thawed out and stuffed with duck, kraut and kolache. Eventually the Nebraska National Guard plowed the road and the convicts were taken back to prison, reluctantly.

The Blizzard of 1949

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:00:00 CDT

Like the Dust Bowl, with its blinding black winds that lasted for years, or the biblical plague of locusts, the 1949 blizzard raged from January through the spring. The monumental drifts it left in its wake finally melted...in July.

Nebraska's Tuskegee Heroes

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:00:00 CDT

Before 1940, African Americans were barred from flying for the U.S. military. But in 1941, an Army Air Forces (formerly Army Air Corps) program was started in Tuskegee, Alabama to train African Americans to fly and maintain combat aircraft. In this segment, Paul Adams and Charles Lane recall the racism they encountered on the ground in contrast to the freedom they felt in the sky.

Cowgirl Up

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:00:00 CDT

The story of Tina Vanderpool, a bronc- and bull-rider. Vanderpool came late to the sport of rodeo, but works hard to improve her skills and fearlessly throw her hat in the rodeo ring.

Fantasia in Clay

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:00:00 CDT

Gerit Grimm was born and raised in Germany. Her exposure to the culture of the United States was gained solely through viewing American cinema. The act of joining this American lifestyle, bridging the gap between movie fantasy and everyday reality, is at the core of the explorations of her current work.